Its’ just a sit stay…..

We honestly could not tell you the number of times we have heard this in reply to the question, “what do you need the dog to do?” Sounds easy, right? I mean, you have a gorgeous dog that loves people, wows everyone at the dog park each weekend with his amusing antics, well rounded repertoire of tricks and zest for life!

Trouble is, it’s never just a sit and stay.

While that’s all the dog may have to do, it’s what’s happening while sitting and staying that is the really important part. There may be kids, balls, bikes, fog, tornadoes, falling Christmas trees or robots. And that’s just what is on camera. Behind the camera will be equipment being set up or pulled down, strange lights and things moving. You will probably have to work your dog behind three men and a big boxy camera and you may end up inventing a new yoga move to get the dog’s eye line (where the dog is looking) where the director wants it.

Oh! And if your dog doesn’t want to do it anymore, you have to find a way to make it happen.

If it doesn’t sound as exciting as you imagine it to be, good. Because it’s really not. But with the right preparation and training, it can be an amazing experience for an animal. We focus on dogs because more dog people think their dog would be great at this kind of stuff than cat people. But it’s all animals of course. Just because your dog, cat, pig or pony has the look a production may be looking for and they “do it at home all the time”, it doesn’t mean they are going to do it in front of a camera 15 times in a row.

If you’re still interested and keen on learning more about how to prepare your animal for front of camera work, get in touch!